Without the Notepad
by FjFandom
Summary: So most of the fics I've read where one half of SQ is deaf, it's Regina. This is where Emma is deaf and it recounts the details of the episodes, up until the mines. then it shifts to SQ, of course ;)
1. Chapter 1

**This is a little thing I came up with after reading 'Lost in Translation', and 'The loudest silence.' You should definitely go read those, but in this, Emma is the one who is deaf, I hope you enjoy my little spin on things. I studied that first episode and it's almost word for word, but some things had to change to compensate. Hope you enjoy ! X**

 **This first chapter is in more detail than the others, because I wanted to go into detail about Emma's arrival,and it's really just following cannon.X.**

She had blown the candle out on the sad little cupcake.

 _I wish I don't have to be alone._

Wishes never came true for her anyways.

She blinked up as the little light was flashing away, signaling someone was at the door.

Grabbing her notepad, she opened the door.

'Can I help you?' She scrawled out, hoping this small kid could read her messy handwriting.

"Are you Emma Swan?" She saw come from his lips, she ignored his look of confusion, writing under her previous line:

'Yeah, who are you?' trying to make the handwriting easier and larger so he could see and understand.

"My name's Henry, I'm your son." No way, she did just not read that from his lips, her son was far away, he had a family, right?

'Where are your parents?' She frantically wrote, holding up the pad, for his inspection, while he marched into her apartment.

"Ten years ago, did you give up a baby for adoption?"

This was not happening, no way in HELL.

"That was me."  
Nope, her son had a family, far from here, right? God, she shouldn't have had that wine.

'Give me a minute' She wrote, before slamming it down on the worktop and fleeing the room. She looked herself in the bathroom, trying to steady her breathing, but stared at the door her son was just behind.

Her son.

She apprehensively came out of the bathroom to find him helping himself to her juice, head tilted to the side looking at her expectantly.

"You know, we should probably get going."

She raised one eyebrow, arms protectively crossing up at her chest, protecting herself, and also hoping to look intimidating to him. She didn't need to ask where.

"I want you to come home with me." He stated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Panic struck through her, she scribbled something down to grab his attention.

He stared down at the notepad, it read:

'Okay kid, I'm calling the cops.'

"You can't do that."

But she didn't listen, she walked over and turned to stare at him menacingly, cell phone in hand.

"You can't!"

She snatched up the notepad, phone nested beneath it and wrote 'Why not?'

"Because you don't talk!"

She could tell he was yelling, she knew what that looked like from a lot of experience, but still she angrily wrote:

'Deaf people can make phone calls too!'

Marking the dot on the exclamation before angrily slamming it down on the counter, frowning when she saw the kid jump.

"You're deaf?"

She nodded. She had been for years.

"Why can't you speak?"

She held a hand up to her throat, smiling awkwardly at henry's confusion, before clearing it and trying to match the words with the vibrations she felt, hoping the words came out okay.

"It's very hard to." She let out, and Henry beamed up at her.

"You sound.. Weird. It's cool." She actually let herself smile properly for the first time in ages. She had never had anyone tell her her voice was anything good before. It was warming. She loved his smile when she had tentatively spoke.

"So, come home with me?"

'Where's home?' appeared before she could question it.

"St...k maine." She didn't understand, he sort of mumbled the first word, making it too hard to read, only catching the start and end, she frowned. so she nodded to the pad, asking him to write, silently.

'Storybrooke Maine.' he wrote.

She frowned again.

 _Storybrooke. Seriously?_ She questioned, looking to the kid for confirmation. He nodded, but she didn't hear the slight 'm-hm.'

Pressing her hands to hover over her throat, she tentatively replied.

"Let's get you home to Storybrooke." hoping she hadn't missed any of the phonetics involved, she was at least pleased with herself when he hopped off the stool to wait by the door.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all?

SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ

"Henry?" She watched as His head whipped around to see his mother running down the pathway, and Emma's breath caught in her throat, she was beautiful. She watched her call his name again and pull him in for a hug.

The words 'Are you okay?' Fell from her lips as she pulled back to inspect him.

Emma was still silent as a man came down the steps falling short of mother and son, she stayed silent, like most of her time as she asked him where he had been. When she gave Emma a small glance before asking what happened, she let her nervous hands find their way to her back pockets, the kid yelled something before storming past the man and running inside. His mother's attention turned to her, and she slipped the notepad out of her back pocket, pen at the ready, to apologise and leave.

"You're Henry's birth mother?" the woman acknowledged, with a shake of her head, tears staining her cheeks, all she could do was awkwardly smile, and start to write a small, seemingly insufficient for the situation, sentence.

'Hi.'

Before she could write anything else to ease the woman's confusion, her head was turning to meet something the man who had silently been standing there had said, though Emma had not caught it, she watched him go off into the house.

 _Odd,_ she thought, _kid said he only had an 'evil' mom, right?_

But then, she was smiling eerily at her and asking,

"How would you like a glass of the best apple cider you ever tasted?" Had she read wrong? She was just going to drop him off and leave, she had to get back to boston, she should just go. Right?

'Got anything stronger?' She found herself writing. If his mother was confused, she didn't show it, she just merely lead her into her house. Her mansion house. Her big ass expensive mansion house.

'How did he find me?' She held up for her to see as she walked back into the room with two glasses, pouring them each a drink.

"No idea, When I adopted him, he was only three weeks old. Records were sealed, i was told the birth mother didn't want any contact." _Right, that was what happened, so how the hell?_

Deciding that this woman was content to busy herself with making cider, not willing to show her lips so she could fully be sure of her words, she decided speaking -although however uncomfortably- might work with this woman.

"You were told right" Was what she tried to say, though she was sure the hand hovering over her throat was telling her she slipped up on the end, but chose to ignore it, as she turned to face her.

"And the father?" _Of course, she would ask. She clearly hates me._

"There was one." She tried, sure she hadn't slipped up yet, but she couldn't speak as the kid's mother must've asked her something, her back turned to her.

"Pardon?" She tried, worried that the high pitched tone making it a question gave her away, but glad to see when she turned and she could read the words.

"Do I need to be worried about him?" Terrified that she would be caught hand, unsure, at her throat,- _Although why the hell should I?-_ she reverted back to her notepad.

'No, He doesn't even know.' she held up for approval, this time not missing the frown etched onto the beautiful woman's face.

"Do I need to be worried about you, Miss Swan?" she read, accepting the offered drink, one handedly writing out an 'absolutely not.' watching her head snap up, Emma followed her gaze to the man walking down the stairs.

"-tired little boy, Henry's fine." Were the last words she caught, when he stepped down the stairs.

"Thank you, sheriff." She read from Regina, watching the man nod and turn to leave.

 _So he's not the kids dad then?_

"I'm sorry he dragged you out of your life-" Was all she caught before her head turned to face where they were walking, scrambling to meet her, _Why the hell does she keep looking away?_

"-You have to understand, balancing things since I've been mayor has been tricky" _So that explains the mansion then_. She mused, settling down to drink as she was met with an intense stare.

She said something, she knew, she had asked her a question but the damn woman was looking away as she said it. Nonchalantly ( or what she hoped that was) She raised her hand to her throat and tried a soft 'Hmm?' Trying not to draw it out too long.

"A job, miss swan?"

'I keep busy.' She wrote, taking a small amount of pleasure in the woman's confusion.

"Imagine having another one on top of it - that's being a single mom." She furthered, finally sitting down.

"So I push for order." She watched as she saw her smile grow, obviously thinking of Henry.

"Am I strict? I suppose.. But I do it for his own good." She nodded along, not sure if even interrupting her with writing was something she should do.

"I want Henry to excel in life." _Good, so do I, so_ did _I._ she mentally corrected herself, n _ot a parent Swan, not the kid's parent._

"You don't think that makes me Evil do you?" It was said with lips barely moving Emma had to strain her years of going like this to read her, wondering if the narrowing of her eyes was bothering the woman.

'I'm sure he's just saying that because of the fairytale thing.' She wrote, holding it up, and taking another sip of her drink, his mother's gaze and scrutiny wasn't helping, added onto the hard stares she usually got.

"What fairytale thing?"

Huh.

'You know, his book? How he thinks everyone's a cartoon character from it?'

When she held it up and watched the woman take a breath to steady her confusion,she turned it around to write quickly.

'like his shrink, is Jimminy cricket?'

"I'm sorry, I really have no idea what you're talking about." She shook her head when saying it, like she was ashamed.

She wrote down her hopefully leaving sentence and shrugged when she showed it to her.

'It's really none of my business, He's your kid, and I really should be heading back.'

She didn't catch whatever she had mumbled as a response but she did stand as she watched her open the door, and wait for her to leave through it.

When she reached her car she turned to see Henry leaving from looking out at his window.

She drove off in her bug, glad this crazy day had come to an end.

Not as glad for the wolf she almost hit, sending her swerving into the 'leaving storybrooke' sign, the last thing she saw before letting black slip across her vision.

SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ

When Emma came to, she was awoken by the light in the room, and notices the small cot she's sitting on. She looks around and see's the bars and is almost afraid she's back in the prison she had Herny in.

Nope, she can't be, because Henry - her son- came and found her. He has a name now. Her faceless baby has a name and a face and is ten years old.

She sees a grumpy man in the other cell who grumbles something at her that she can't read, she's too dizzy and it's too much effort.

The man in the other cell turns and she follows, she catches what he's saying before missing anything too important.  
"We have a guest, so you are Henry's birth mother? How lovely for him to have you back in his life."

She frantically scrambles for her notepad but finds that she doesn't have it on her, she doesn't even know who these people are or why she's here, she nods, not willing to say much more.

The sheriff from last night enters after the two men have a conversation Emma finds herself not willing to enter into, she couldn't communicate if she tried. Without the notepad, she can't talk to anyone.

She sees the man smile sarcastically and leave. Realising most people expect her to speak, she holds her hand to her throat and tries a small 'Seriously?' hoping that her voice sounds vaguely normal, maybe the fact she just woke up would cover any tinge of unusualness.

"Regina's drinks are a little stronger than we thought."

Shaking her head, she wanted to tell the man there was a wolf in the road, but she didn't know if she could get those words to sound normal.

"Notepad?" He questioned, and she stared up at him surprisingly, glad he understood.

She smiled though, and nodded when he handed it to her, also glad he had kept the pages where they were. She was going to keep every conversation she had with henry, even if it was a little one-sided.

She wrote about the wolf in the road and sent him a playful glare when he gave a sarcastic response, clear by the roll of his eyes.

Graham surprised her when he made an 'L' shape with his left hand, the same on his right, hooking his forefinger around the thumb in the sign language for 'run'. She was confused, until moments later Henry's mother emerged rambling on about something Emma was wholly disinterested in, until she saw Regina had rounded on her, asking her about where 'he' was. She assumed Henry, not willing to give up the weakness that she found in trying to read Regina.

'I haven't seen him since I dropped him off at your house.' She held up, at Regina's glare she wrote again, hastily.

'I have a pretty good alibi.'

Regina tilted her head and replied, and Emma was glad she was enunciating so she could see the movements of her lips.

"He wasn't in his room this morning."

'Did you try his friends?' She supplied with the notepad, glad graham had been thoughtful enough to give it to her, still surprised he knew any sign language at all, she signed 'thank you', before continuing, ignoring the look of outrage on Regina's face, clearly confused as it looked like she had blown him a kiss, but she still responded.

"He doesn't really have any. He's kind of a loner."

'Every kid has friends.'

His mother was just glaring at her, still confused by what was going on, Graham chuckling at her response to Emma's thanks, but Emma continued to write.

'Did you check his computer?'

Another glare, tingled with confusion. Of course, she was a bail bondsperson, these people weren't used to hunting other's down, so she elaborated.

'If he's close to someone, he'd be e-mailing them.'

"And you know this how?" Regina asked, and Emma smirked inwardly.

'Finding people is what I do, let me out and I'll help you guys find him.'

SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ

When they had gotten up into henry's room, emma had chuckled at how smart henry was, he had cleared out his email, but she had her handy little tricks up her sleeve, and used her fool proof plan. Smiling at graham who explained he was a door-to-door type of sheriff, she replied, barely glancing at the notepad on the desk.

'I get paid by delivery, that's not a luxury I get.' When she saw the receipt for a website named " " she wrote and added to the paper

'He has a credit card?'

She was met with a curt glare and a "He's _ten._ "

'Well he used one.' She pulled up the transcription record.

'Who's mary-margaret Blanchard?'

She thought she caught the word Teacher, before they were leaving.

SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ

When Emma followed Regina into a tiny classroom, and saw the teacher she assumed was the credit card owner looking like a deer caught in headlights at Regina's advance, she almost laughed.

Almost.

But remembering she had been told it was an ugly sound and she should 'be glad you can't hear it, retard'. She fell short, in her awkward smile and step, behind Regina.

She saw the hatred Regina had for the woman and wanted to spare her, but when she was asked who she was, she tried to grab for her notepad, but wanted to be confident, and tried to speak, without raising her hand to her throat.

It was a difficult feat, but she wasn't sure how much of it she got out before she saw Regina finishing it for her.

"The woman who gave him up for adoption."

She raised her pen and wrote 'You don't know anything about this do you?' Because it was clear that the woman was extremely confused.

She watched the conversation continue, startled a little when Regina knocked over some books, wishing her a nice trip back to boston, the sarcasm very clear.

'Sorry to bother you' She supplied, holding up an almost full page of paper which she was well aware must've been confusing if she took the time to read all the little sentences.

"No.. It's okay. I hear this is partially my fault." She smiled picking up the stack of fallen books along with the teacher, she was kind and warm, something she hadn't been shown often.

She thought maybe she had made a friend when the teacher had directed her to his 'castle.'

SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ

She walks up behind Henry and hands him his book back, with a small post-it saying ' You left this in my car' before sitting up next to him, notepad in hand.

They stared up at the unmoving clock tower.

'Still hasn't moved, huh?' She had to practically shove it under his nose for attention, but he read it and glanced up to meet her eyes.

"I was hoping when I brought you back that things would change.." He trailed off looking down, and although she knew he didn't mean to, it infuriated her a little, she couldn't read lips when she couldn't see them.

"You're going to bring back the happy endings." He stated matter of factly, having looked up again.

'Sorry, I'm no white knight kid'

"You are, It's your destiny! You don't have to be.. Hostile, I know you like me - I can tell! I just make you feel guilty, it's okay, you wanted me to have my best chance."

Startled that he had actually realised this, she found herself actually speaking to her son, without stuttering or raising her hand to check.

"How do you know that?"

And he beamed in a wide shit-eating grin

"Because it's the same reason Snow White gave you away."

Then she deflated, because her son was semi-insane. Or at least he had a weird and vivid imagination that was just realllyy creeping her out.

'I'm not a saviour Henry. I'm not in any book, I did want you to have your best chance, but it's not with me. Come on, let's go.' She wrote, feeling awful that writing things down made everything feel more permanent to her.

"Please don't make me go back. Just one week, that's all, one week and you'll see I'm not crazy!"

Huffing a little sadly as she did so, she wrote out something that killed her to have to say to him.

'I have to get you back to your mom.'

She wanted to blow up at him about how he had it lucky when he said his life sucks, but she kept her resolve and wrote a small 'lets go', shoving it down on the wood before leaving.

SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ

Similar to the previous night, Henry runs past his mother and runs up the stairs.

She sees Regina say a 'thank you', and smiles, signing the response by heart, which was the same 'blowing a kiss' response she gave graham this morning. She froze under Regina's glare. Did she not know or something? was she that ignorant?

"What was that, Miss Swan?"

Emma just pointed to her ear, tapping it lightly, hoping Regina could understand.

"What are you doing?"

Emma huffed and searched for her notepad in her back pocket, groaning slightly when she recognised that she had left it on the castle. Great, now she had no means of communication with and angry woman. She signed for a notepad, which consisted of holding out a hand and using the other to motion for scribbling, hoping the woman was as smart as she dressed. She appeared to be so, when she stormed off, door open, reappearing on the porch with a small notepad in hand, and a black pen accompanying it.

She wrote down alls he could think to say.

'Sorry, that meant 'your welcome' It also means 'thank you', it's what I said to graham earlier.'

Regina just appeared shocked when she took the paper from her hands.

"You're deaf, aren't you?" Emma just smiled and nodded, basking in Regina's moment of recognising her pure density.

"I apologise, I didn't realise, since you spoke earlier."

Emma nodded, and raised her hand to her throat, noticeably less ashamed.

"It's hard, but I try."

"That you do.." Came the dry response. She continued with ".. My son seems to have taken quite a shine to you."

She was actually a little glad when Regina picked a fight with her, she didn't have this kind of fire in a long time. At long last, someone didn't pity her for who she just was.

When she met gold she was more than a little perplexed, but shrugged it off, Ruby and Granny were friendly. She beams when Regina offers her a basket of apples and another not so thinly veiled threat, she enjoys it, and revels in it, because she hasn't had this in so long it's giving her something she needed. But what she's even more glad for, is when she can speak to graham, in her own language, something she hasn't spoken in years.

"You have an admirer."  
She sees Graham and smiles awkwardly, walking over to him and placing the hot chocolate down on the table so she could sign, but he awkwardly talks and signs at the same time, saying

"You've decided to stay?" And she really is impressed that a man with hearing is so fluent, but she's seen better and worse from better and worse people and smiles and replies, slowly so he can see.

"Observant, important for a cop."

"Good news for our local business, not so much for our local signage." she frowns and reads his lips at the same time because he got the order wrong, but smiles again as he stutters and tries to tell her that it was a joke.

She almost finds herself a little deflated when telling him thanks but no thanks for the cocoa.

But she beams again, a smile that is becoming reserved for Henry, when he says he is the one that sent it and asks her to walk him to school, something she thought she would never get to do with her own kid.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so someone wanted me to deviate from the original plotline, because while i totally get it, not wanting to read what you've already seen, I need to spin things in Emma's new perspective, but In this chapter, everything shifts in the mine scene, sooo…. Did I do good? ;)**

 **FORMAT: OK, so i tried to get this to do normal formatting, and I spent like an hour re-doing everything and formatting it, but FF is being real weird and keeps reverting it, I'm sorry let me know how to fix the problem if you know? XX**

Enjoy, X.

She smiled as Henry had told her they should start an operation, it only grew wider when he

asked what the sign for cobra was. On their way to the bus stop, she stopped to show him the

sign; her right hand raised forming a 'C', snapping out so that her four fingers met her thumb,

raising it in a stop sign and crossing her fingers before stopping. It was amazing to know he was

making an effort, and she laughed a little as he stumbled over it for the first try, but high fived

him when he finally got it right, which only took one or two tries. She loved his stubbornness

about not letting his mother know anything, that they were getting away with something under

Regina's nose, that it was so small it gave her some.. Pride, almost.

She tried speaking with henry, and although it made her feel really uncomfortable, his face lit up

every time she did, so she kept at it, and made a mental note to maybe try a speech therapist here.

Not that she was convinced the Archie she met, (or jiminy cricket, according to the kid) would be

the person in town to go to. But she would make an effort, because Henry grinned so cheekily

whether she was speaking, or he was signing.

When Mary margaret tells her it's good to see henry smiling again, it really shocks her, but she

shrugs as a response, not confident enough to try and speak to the stranger. To be honest, it

doesn't surprise her when the woman says she supposed to be Snow White, because of course

she is. But what does surprise her is the fact she speaks, confidently enough, asking after

doctor hopper. Maybe he has some answers.

When she talks to the man and he says that this is Henry's method of communicating, she

frowns a little, not really understanding, but nodding along although still confused a little. And

when he willingly gives her the file she suspects something's wrong, but she ignores it, glad to

know something about her son that is real in the real world.

She smiles at seeing graham at her door, it's actually an uplifting feeling to be able to speak

with someone so comfortably in her own language, even if he does it slowly, but when graham isn't talking

to her like usual -or her usual, she frowns a little.

"This what you're looking for?" She signed angrily, finishing the 'looking for' by waving her hand

away from her face in a flourish, ending by pointing to the file, angry that he came in and didn't sign, even if it may be hard for him, it made her life a little easier, and he so clearly could that she was more angry that he was choosing to speak to her, reading lips was something she was used to, but did not want to do.

She wasn't going to adhere to his whims, he knew how to speak with her, yet he literally spoke to

her.

When he was at the station she tried to explain Archie was lying by brushing her hand against

her chin, but the handcuffs on both hands were kind of trapping the movement, but she was

successful in getting graham to understand her.

When Mary margaret and Henry came in, explaining his mother said what had happened, she

wearily used her voice, awkwardly shackled hands raised in attempted to gauge what she was

saying. He interrupted her by calling her a genius, which stunned her quite a bit, and she

beamed happily at him when he said operation cobra, accompanied by the little sign she had

taught him earlier, perfectly done. When she caught the words bail, she turned to the teacher,

who stuttered out something she couldn't understand, but she thought it looked like an 'I trust

You', she liked her, she really did, but muttering and stuttering was not helping.

She comes up with a plan, though not a good one, and is elated when Regina comes storming

down yelling at her, words she couldn't understand from her angry mouth flaring, but she knows

anyways.

She doesn't have her notepad on her, and she doesn't intend to speak either, so she sign's

'Picking apples', her hand circling in a smug little motion, knowing somehow that regina gets it.

She's apparently out of her mind, but she has the gall to speak without raising her hand to her

throat this time, and she even calls "Your move" While walking away, a joy she hasn't felt in

Years, she barely ever speaks to Henry without checking the vibrations, but she knows that she spoke correctly, and is getting under the Mayor's skin.

She smiles even when Granny tells her she has to leave, because this is the mayor's move and

it's quite small, but she nods and hands over the key.

When she gets a text from Regina saying they should resolve things she's a little shocked, but

she enjoys it a little she can't deny it when regina adds an 'or walk, whatever suits you', right

as she slams the door to her bug shut, because of the damned clamp she knows she put there.

She's even more surprised when Regina writes to her.

She actually writes to her.

And maybe it's a revelation, more than Graham signing, because someone has considered how

hard understanding people -daily- is, and she wrote on a prepared pad and she can't help but

smile a little because Regina thought this would make things easier. And it does.

I'd like to start by apologising, Miss Swan. it reads, in soft and curled writing that is perfect and

of course it is Regina.

She just stares at her, clearly shocked.

I just have to accept the reality that you want to be here,

Slowly, and tentatively, Emma picks up the pen and writes 'That's right, I do.'

And that you're here to take my son from , Emma picks up the pen and scrambles

to write.

'Okay, I have no intention of taking him away from anyone.'

Well then, what are you doing here?

'I'm not a mother, I think that's pretty self -evident, but I did have him, and I can't help but he got

in my head I want to make sure he's okay. The more you push away, the more I want to be

here, especially after I've seen how' She paused, finding the right words. 'Troubled he is.' she

finished, staring intently for Regina's answer.

You think he's troubled?

'Well, he's in therapy. And I only got through a couple of pages of his shrink's notes before you

had me arrested. But putting all that aside. He thinks everyone in this town is a fairy tale

character'

And you don't? And how can Emma help but stare, bug eyed at the woman who isn't meeting

her gaze, staring at the paper,

'How can I? The poor kid can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality and it's only

getting worse. It's crazy'

Regina smirked, snatched up the paper, turning back to her desk and almost slamming it down.

"Miss Swan, you should leave." And Emma's world crumples because of course, regina didn't

think of her, she's going to use this against Henry, who she cannot do that to, so she leaves the

room promising to find him.

She doesn't see him hiding behind the door, and of course, she can't hear his outrage as he

runs and leaves from the room.

The next thing Emma thinks she can do, is give the teacher back her bail money, because she

knows what that stuff means to some people, so she makes her way to the loft. Emma's

eyebrow quirks when Mary margaret offers her a cocoa, with cinnamon, and laughs as she tells

her it's a quirk of hers.

She shakes her head again, and offers her the thank you that has everyone stunned to silence

in this town before quickly writing out that it's sign for thanks, and telling her she doesn't mind

the cinnamon, that she enjoys it really.

She also raises a brow at her weird answer of "Maybe we've met before?" Like a form of past

lives type thing that some of THOSE weirdos do.

When she gets the advice that causes her to go running to Henry, she actually speaks, -no

worries- she just speaks to him because it's one thing that makes him smile.

She signs as she goes, a little slow because when Henry looks up at her she sees his smile,

She burns the pages, and Henry is with her again, and she laughs when he asks her to repeat a

sign he didn't really get, and she slows it down and goes through the motion, two palms flat in

front of her hips, moving them separately and out to the side, when he asks what it is, she

laughs and says it's his name.

She then writes down, suddenly aware that dr. hopper is there, explaining that Henry isn't a sign

language word she knows, so she gave him a nickname, like most people do, and that means

'kid', and it's just for him, when he asks what hers is, she smiles and tells her he can choose

one for her, and she'll show him the sign. He picks 'saviour' in the end, which of course he

does, and she shows him how to sing it, arms crossed in an 'x', fists balled, but then pulled

apart as they go to the sides and straighten out, pulling down in two straight slashes, she almost

giggles and she's not sure she has or not when Henry beams up at her, knowing he did it right.

She actually almost laughs when Mary margaret has to get her attention by flailing her arms in

front of her car window, because the woman looks ridiculous, but she still smiles.

"You okay?" She asks, and Emma nods, grabbing for her notepad.

'Not the tightest spot I've ever been in, to be honest' she writes, and she smiles though Mary

margaret is frowning.

"You're sleeping here?"

She nods, kind of too tired to write a response to that.

"So you decided to stay. For henry."

'Yeah, this town doesn't have any vacancies, that normal?' she holds it up.

"Must be the curse." And she can see the woman's soft chuckle by the tilt of her head.

She's a little stunned when Mary margaret tells her she has a spare room, no one has ever

really been that kind to her.

But she still shrugs and replies as a no, she's not the room mate type, she doesn't elaborate

that most people can't tolerate the deaf woman stumbling about and making too much noise

Because she can't notice it. She knows that she's a crappy person to live with, unless you're

deaf yourself.

When Henry comes up with a coma patient being her father, she's not sure if she laughs aloud

at the idea. She actually thinks the idea is crazy of trying to get the woman who is supposedly

her mother to read to a strange man, but she accepts without much persuasion.

She's shocked when she thinks she see's her telling them that he woke up, so much so that she

knows she said 'what' and is a little proud for knowing she got it right, too.

She's so confused when they get to the hospital, not just of the situation but because

EVERYONE is talking and it's taking her a while to catch up, especially when they talk so fast.

She does see when Regina is accused of doing something, and signs as she says it's curious

for her to be here.

And she's shocked to see that grumpy guy -Leroy, is it?- from the station, but she shrugs it off because they have to go out to the woods and look for the guy, and she knows she may not even be helpful in

this because she wouldn't hear the guy if he was screaming at her from behind.

When they're out she's glad she's able to sign at graham and he translates for her, it's easier for

her to talk this way.

And why isn't she surprised when the kid comes running through the woods looking for her and

claiming to know where john Doe will be?

So apparently, they're following a ten year old's advice on finding someone, when they have two

different types of trackers, one technological and modern, the other traditional and old school,

but apparently, someone a third of their age knows better. Of course. And she's worried when

they find blood and henry's right there and he needs to get home, but somehow and for some

reason, he follows. She uses her voice when saying it's going to be okay, she hopes it comes

out normal, because her friend is still panicking.

Her friend. Huh.

She's still using her voice to tell the kid not to look.

But damn, that sneaky bitch Regina because she swears she see's her say 'his wife' with a

smirk when she walks in, all pandemonium and chaos around everyone, and she doesn't really

know what's going on, too many people speaking at once, but she's sure she read those words,

and it kind of crushes her to know they crush Mary margaret, too.

When things slow down, she can finally start reading people's words, and she's without the

damned notepad again and she knows she's going to have to talk again.

So she asks if she didn't look for him, or rather why.

She chases after Regina and Henry and she stomps on the floor, how she only knows how to

summon people, but realises her mistake when some people look at her oddly, so she

unsteadily yells "Madam mayor!" And hopes it came out right, as always, not wanting to be

under her scrutinous glares.

So she confronts her, and doesn't really care if her throat makes all the wrong noises.

And she stumbles back a bit when regina basically insults her by telling her she doesn't have

someone. She doesn't say it, but it's implied, she marks a claim on their son, and it stings, but

she still sees him in the car and waves, signing 'kid', and her smile growing as he waves

goodbye, signing her name (Even though she isn't a saviour) as they drive off.

It irritates her but she still shrugs it off and climbs into her bug.

Thinking of mary margaret being alone kind of gets to her, so she drives to the apartment and

asks if the rooms still available, holding it up pre written on her pad, smiling as she opens the

door.

Yeah, maybe this won't be so bad.

SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ

She basks in the feeling of getting to walk her son to the bus stop, it's a small thing, but she

appreciates it. She's signing with her unsteady words, and chooses not to talk much, but when

Henry asks her what a word is or what a sign means, she is more than happy to oblige. He

already can hold a conversation pretty well, and it's only been a week.

She laughs when he still calls her Emma but signs 'saviour', because reading it makes it funny

somehow. She never thought she would have the chance to watch her son on his way to

school, but she does, and she smiles.

She stares when graham comes up in the cruiser lights flashing, and he explains 'it's so hard to

get your attention,' did he actually manage to pull that off as a joke? She smiles, glad he's

signing with her again, but apparently he's offering her the job of deputy.

Emma Swan. Deputy. She thinks she may have scoffed a little, but she can't really tell.

She is more than a little shocked when Regina promptly sits herself down in front of her, a

notepad slid into place in front of her.

How was your walk with Henry? That's right, I know everything. But Relax, I don't mind.

She's a little wary that this is going to be used as another form of manipulation, but she hopes

rather stupidly, but she does that Regina maybe just considered she'd lift the burden of difficult

communication between the two.

'You don't?'

No, you see, I did a little digging into who you are, Miss Swan. It all comes down to the number

seven.

She just raised her eyebrow as a response.

It's the number of addresses you've had in the last decade. Your longest in anywhere was two

years. Really, what did you enjoy so much about Tallahassee?

'I found a place in town, if you were wondering.' she wrote, trying to convey the sarcasm.

I know. With Miss Blanchard. How long is your lease? Oh, wait. You don't have one. You see

my point? In order for something to grow, Miss Swan, it needs roots. And you? Don't have any.

People don't change. They only fool themselves into believing they can.

Damn, she's right.

'You don't know me' She wasn't going to admit this was a little fun. Regina and her having

arguments was something to look forward to, a little.

No, I think I do. All I ask, is as you carry on your transient life, you think of Henry and what's

best for him. Perhaps consider a clean break. It's going to happen anyway. Enjoy your cocoa.

She left the note. She left the note. She left the note, was all she could think even as she had to

go and get her shirt clean, she left the note. What does that mean? Was she actually speaking

to her to ease her? Was she bothering this to be what? Nice? No one had ever done that for

her, except her first family. She had taught herself to sign, she tried to teach herself to speak.

But someone who hated her wanted to talk to her the way they both could.

This was too damn confusing.

She meets a girl called ashley, and she can't talk to her, but she tries.

She sees the girl smile even though she knows she's talking oddly distorted.

She told her to say ' no, this is who I am' and maybe she's glad she gave the advice, because

she knows now she can take it herself.

That entire conversation she had with a stranger, she didn't raise her hand to her throat, once.

She punched back and told people who she is.

She gets her stuff here, in some small boxes, not too hard to unpack, since she owns so little.

She sees mary margaret asking her if this is all of her stuff, and she just nods, getting back to

putting things away.

When she looks up again, she asks if the rest is in storage.

Right, foster kids don't really have that much sentimentality.

She shakes her head and says 'this is all of it' while signing. She's not sure why she got so used

to talking and signing around some of the people here, but it's nice. She knows she said

something but it was mumbled and too hard to read, so she went back to putting her things

away. Something drew her attention away, because she left to go answer the door.

She sees an awkward mary margaret and comes to the door, reading the strange man's lips is

hard, but she manages, and he's looking for the girl who gave her confidence without knowing

it.

The snake of a man must know something, because though she can't hear his tone, she can

damn well tell he means something while saying no child deserves to be born in jail.

She watches curiously as Gold interacts with Henry, she can't see what he says, but she knows

Henry thinks there's something off.

Henry insists on coming with her, and not that she would want to give up on time with him, but

this chick attacked gold, a guy with a limp, and stole something valuable, and she knows that's

not something she's going to drag him into.

Sneaky little shit gets in the car anyways.

She's got her notepad out and using it to ask questions to ruby. When she opens it she sees the

conversation she had with Regina, a page she for some reason kept, and now she smiles,

before writing on a new page.

When she snaps at ashley's ex's dad, using her voice, saying some people only have the

backseat of the car, he has the fucking nerve to say that some people are to be pitied, just like

her.

Just. Like. Her.

As in she's dumb or something? She learnt how to sign! She can read lips! She finds ways to

communicate! She struggles every day and she should be pitied?

And the fool thinks she's going to bring gold a child.

Ashley's child.

And so when she caught Henry's head popping up from the rearview mirror she almost had a

freaking heart attack, but was glad with her skills of talking enough to reprimand him.

He gets her attention by pointing wildly at her car on the side of the road, and her stomach sinks

because it doesn't look like she parked and she has a baby, and Henry's right there. She's glad

the kid's with her, because he hears her and apparently, she's in labour.

She couldn't help the surge of pride when she saw the girl saying she wanted to keep her child,

that maybe she would be the best for her baby. It was an elating feeling, kind of like she wanted

to live through ashley in silent support of the girl having the strength to build a life for herself and

her child when she herself could not. She was equally as proud when she saw her own son

there, too.

She makes the deal change, she owes him a favour. It'll come back to bite her in the ass, she

knows, but Ashley is keeping her baby, and that's all she can do to stop worrying.

The baby's name is Alexandra, and she can't help but laugh a little when Henry asks the sign,

he finger- spells it, of course, which makes her beam with pride. He decides that her nickname is

'lion' because Alex is the short nickname, and of course that reminds him of the lion from

Madagascar.

She texts graham accepting the offer for a deputy. Some roots wouldn't be so bad. If Ashley can

get to keep her kid in this town, hopefully so can she.

She gets to the station and is handed a uniform, and nearly laughs at how ridiculous it all is, she

signs to graham telling him she is not wearing a uniform, but he insists on the badge. Gladly,

she takes it but is terrified when she feels the tremors in the ground , more used to detecting the

vibrations moments before the ground shakes heavily.

The lights that graham installed on the deputy's phone are flashing, and she knows Graham's

has just gone off too. She laughs at Regina's face when she announces that she's deputy with

her notepad, clearly other's eyeing it, some people still unawares that she's deaf, but she

shrugs anyways, one hand returning to the back of her pocket.

She's surprised when Regina steps forward and writes a reply. She thought regina was

manipulating her, but is she making it easier for her?

Why don't you make yourself useful with crowd control?

She thinks she chuckles at the annoyance in the words but walks off when Regina has clearly

already started addressing the crowd.

She's a little sad when Regina addresses them both to cordon off the area and she has to

lipread, but she's spared a glance that could almost be asking if she understood, with a nod,

she goes off to do just that. Very, very confused.

And when she's talking to mary margaret, telling her clearly to not date the married man, she

gets the door when her hurt friend's head snaps up, revealing a hurt little Henry and it crushes

her heart. She drops him off with the mayor because she has got to have a heated conversation

with the kid's shrink.

Only, regina says the kid isn't with her, and they are off to the mines for the second time that

day, looking for her son.

Emma feels the tremors moments before this time, and oh god, Henry is in there and this is not

happening, please, let him be safe.

Archie's gone in before she can, and the ground is shaking and the entrance has collapsed,

swallowing her way to her son whole.

And when the rest of the town gets there, it's the second time she's seen pure maternal instinct

come out in Regina, worry for their son, and it would be making her proud if not for her son who

is trapped down there. She smiles sadly and feels a flutter in her stomach as regina writes the words

Help me. Following her own. She can see archie's dog, Pongo, is distressed and barking, so

she lets him out of the truck, she weirdly has an odd trust in dogs and their instincts, and is now glad that they may have something valuable, something they can work with.

She offers herself up, even though she may not hear them, she could feel the echoes off the

walls, it would be easier to trace. She could feel vibrations because she is more sensitive to

them, if anything were on the border of collapsing. Surprised when Regina only gives in when

she shakily says, "I got this." Knowing her voice can sometimes say more than her text does.

When Emma descended, a small way down, some rocks from above smashed and collided with

her face, slightly blurring her vision, determined, she kept going down. she could see two figures

in an air shaft elevator, a smile escaped her unknowingly, and she manages to get Henry up

before the shaft falls, she just lost archie. But the damn guy is hooked to her with his umbrella,

she almost chuckles at the sight, but they're safe and they can go up. She tried not to think

about how everything was dizzying and her vision was failing in one eye.

After checking on Henry, and going to check on the crowd, Emma knows she has to get herself

seen by Whale, she's pretty sure she's concussed, and she can see everything swimming and

pretty soon, the ground is colliding with her face.

SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ

Emma wakes up and her vision is still slightly blurred. Slightly being too small a word, it's like

one side is clear, yet the other is completely fuzzy. Only blotches and slight shapes are

intelligible and she's going to cry because although she knows she's in the hospital, and this

can get better, She's already lost one sense like this and she doesn't want to have to lose

another so primitive to her life, she knows how to appreciate some things, and she just can't.

She refuses. Never to lose a sense again.

Dr Whale enters after a nurse leaves, and he slides a piece of paper on a clipboard explaining

everything that's going on, her eyesight is pretty marred and is going to be damaged for a few

weeks. She has to take time off work (great, after her first day just started, too) and find

someone to take care of her. This is the harder part, no one will want to. She could stay with

Mary Margaret, but even the kind teacher cannot take three weeks off to take care of her. She

knows she's going to be reading off clipboards for a while, not unless the kid suddenly finds a

way to learn all of sign language in a few hours. So she thumps her head back on the pillow

when he leaves, silent tears falling from her face.

She drifts off to sleep, knowing soon enough she's going to have to be discharged, an idea she

does not want to have to deal with right now, and awakes to her son's face looking at her

expectantly from across the room. She gives him a small wave, pulling herself up on the bed,

using the controls so that it's at a more comfortable angle.

'Hey kid' She signs, knowing he understands that much.

'Hey Emma' He signs back, at a loss with what to do, she smiles, and begins to sign something

she knows he may or may not get, but she tries anyways.

'I'm going out of town for a few weeks, I need someone to take care of me Henry. No one can

do that here. I'm sorry.'

She watches him shake his head, and grab the notepad she keeps on her from the table, writing

his best, in clear big capital letters. She notices him reading Whale's explanation, and frowns a

little. The man should have taken that away before letting him anywhere near.

EMMA, YOU CAN'T, YOU HAVE TO STAY. WE CAN TAKE CARE OF YOU.

She shakes her head, glad he understood whether it was from her signing, or Whale's

carelessness, she doesn't know.

'We? Henry, you can't take care of me, I need someone who can sign, I need to hire someone,

and there's nobody in storybrooke who can. It's three weeks. You'll be fine.' She signed, hoping

he got it, writing and talking would be too much for her to think, she already has a pounding

headache right now, and she can barely make out his or her own hand movements, tilting her

head so her hands reach her right eye's field of vision.

MOM CAN, SHE KNOWS SIGN LANGUAGE.

She shook her head, clearly, Regina did not.

'I'm not so sure kid.'

SHE CAN, SHE JUST SAID SHE PREFERRED YELLING AT YOU

She smirked then, because of course regina preferred yelling at her.

'I can't, I'll find a place outside of town for a few weeks. It'll be okay.'

She saw her son look away and she thought he was hiding back tears, but when Regina came

back into her field of view, she was confused, even more so when she saw the fluid signs

coming from her hands.

'You can stay with us for as long as it takes for you to heal. I'll work at home and take my son to

school. This is a consequence of you getting him out of the mines. Let me repay you for that'

Emma was so stunned, she didn't know what to do. She shut her already gaping jaw and just

nodded, glad that afterwards, Regina assured Henry that she must be tired, which she was, and

she was allowed to rest once more.

SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ

She lifted her heavy eyelids open, and tears sprang to her eyes when she was faced with the

fact that once again, her vision was marred. She looked around the blurry room, one completely

useless eye and another slightly blurry one resting on a figure in the doorway, as it came closer,

she recognised it as Regina, from the regal and cold composure. She watched, head turning to

follow as she stepped into the room and sat herself down on the chair next to the bed.

'I have spoken to the doctors. You can come to our home with us within the hour.'

She nodded her consent, she couldn't even feel her hands right now, or see them. Had she

been on pain meds that were that heavy?

'Your roommate brought you clothes, if you would like to change soon.'

She smiled gratefully and took the jeans and t shirt that were offered, making a move to sit up

on the bead, a hand that she could now feel through pins and needles, coming to her head as the shift made her dizzy. She looked up as she felt a warm presence connecting to her left arm, and turned her head to look at Regina helping her up. She felt the cold floor connecting with her feet as she stood, sending a light shiver down her body, she felt the absence of the blankets from the bed. The warmth from Regina snaked around to her front as she stepped in front of her, a hand was on her elbow.

'Will you be okay to change by yourself?'

She nodded, clutching the clothes as she stepped away from Regina and into the bathroom.

Changing was difficult, but she managed it, eventually tilting her head to the left, fully so she

could see everything in her right eye's, (The good one), field of vision. When she came out of

the bathroom, she found Regina's form awaiting her, and she made out the shape of an arm

holding out for her, she leaned into it, wincing a little as she felt her head pounding when she

flopped down to the bed.

'How's Henry?' She signed, but smiled sheepishly at Regina's confused look, she finger spelled

his name for her to understand.

'This ' She signed 'kid' 'Is Henry's name.' And then Regina did something impossible that she

actually wondered whether her eyes were sending her wrong images, she smiled.

'Actually, this ' she signed, before bringing one arm to her ribs, in a cradling motion, the other to

her head in a salute, before bringing it down to the other arm, as if cradling a non existent child.

'I y's,' she fingerspelled, so it would make sense 'name.'

Son. That was what that meant, son.

She smiled absently, before watching as Regina's head snapped up at the door, she was given

some papers to sign, and the nurse unplugged all the machines Emma was attached to, and

turning some of them off.

"Goodbye Emma, get well soon". The nurse signed, slowly,-Like, really slowly- as if it were too hard for her to understand, before leaving. It irritated Emma, she was deaf, not slow, she had a blurry eye, not dumb. Even when she was perfectly capable she was being treated like a child, it infuriated her to no end. She couldn't make out Regina's face well, before being helped to stand, but by her rigid composure, she guessed that for some reason, it irritated her too.

It was a short car ride to the mansion, but Emma still felt herself at the clutches of sleep and had

dozed off before they had even passed the clocktower.

She next awoke in a strange room, with pristine white walls, in a large comfortable bed. The first

thing she opted to feel was panic, but instead settled for contentment, she was too damn comfy

to care at the moment. She sat up, giving the room another curious once over. The sheets on

the bed were silk and golden, and the light coming in from the half- drawn curtains set a soft

golden hue to the room, which was basked in a beautiful golden light. She sat herself up further,

the slouch giving her a back ache, and rested herself against the headboard. She was still in

jeans and a tank, she noted, and when she glanced at the bedside table, she couldn't even

make out the time on the alarm clock. Great. She found she still didn't know where she was, but she assumed it was Regina's guest bedroom. It was so Regina, she noticed as she looked around. She didn't know how she hadn't noticed it before. As she got distracted from her thoughts of the room, she could feel the dryness in her throat, so she decided she'd try to get up out from the sheets. Bad idea. They seemed to want to entangle with her, and she found herself being forced to the ground.

Well, ow.

She was briefly confused when she saw high heeled feet right at her face, and then hands bringing her back up to sit her gently on the bed. When her eyes found hazel ones staring intently at her. She momentarily forgot how to breathe. She saw Regina step back, and made a conscious attempt to follow her hand movements.

'What were you doing, Ms Swan?'

Emma almost laughed, she actually called her Swan.

"I Tried to get out of the bed."

'Well, clearly you were just being an idiot, Ms. Swan'

Emma just huffed and tried to get out of the bed again, only to be held back by a hand halting her from Regina.

'Why do you need to get out of bed?'

"I wanted a glass of water" Emma shrugged, though she leaned back on the bed slightly. She saw Regina's still-blurry form shake slightly and hesitantly turned to look at her, awaiting an explanation.

'I'm sorry, I left you one, right there,' She signed, pointing to the bedside table where infact, there was a glass of water waiting for her there.

Huh.

This side of Regina Mills was going to be interesting.

Okay so that was quite enough for a second chapter, don't ya think? Normally My first chapter is the longest, but I kept thinking I couldn't end this one until the story changed from it's original line. :)

As I said from my other story, I'll be going away for a while, as it is the holidays for me. So, I should hope to have all my stories updated by the end of this week, then I'll have a two week Hiatus because caravans have NO WIFI.

\- I know, how will I survive without my SQ memes? :'(

Review?


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